Mel Shaw
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Mel Shaw
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Family Trees - AKA I Was Actually Insane Enough to Try to Outline My Dumb Theory
So, I was sick today and this is where my mind wandered down.
I named all of the generations of people I’ve been holding in my head for the last serval months as well as adding some further lore mongering as I sketched things out - literally. You can see me scrapping things as I drew the family trees.
Most of this *ish is for me - spelling mistakes, bad handwriting, and all.
But, I’ll give you the highlights in the following sections.
How I Ended Up Justifying Prydain as the 2nd Merger Kingdom with Corona for Enchancia in my “Unified Disney Theory”
So, first, this relied on me taking Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures as canon to the Tangled universe and storyline.
Then, I decided it was the origin of the Dark Kingdom in Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures because, to me, even after the destruction of the Cauldron, if I were the Moon, and I were going to choose from ALL the Disney Kingdom’s I have in my disposal to choose from for my pointy rock causing spawn of darkness to reside in and be protected by?
I’m choosing the kingdom with the richest magical history as well as a history of people defending cursed objects and somehow still managing to keep the earth in balance.
Hence, Dark Kingdom - formerly known as Prydain.
Therefore, I decided I had to trace King Edmund’s origins back to Elonwyn and Terran as well. Hence, in a certain way, the “Brotherhood” does have its origins in the same family, of sorts.
Other Weird Stuff to Come Out of This On the Mythology Side for both Tangled the Series/ Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures & Sofia the First
I knew I wanted a connection between Cassandra of Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventures and Cassandra the spurned prophetess of mythology. So, I worked one in.
I basically found a way to connect the mythological god Apollo into the bloodline of the brotherhood of the Dark Kingdom.
If you trace Cedric’s lineage back through Goodwyn to Varian and Hugo, back through Qurin. You’ll see that one of the spouses, in this variation in which I am taking many liberties on actual mythology, pairs off with the god Apollo and has Asclepius. I think(?) I indicated correctly that that was the first relationship of this partner before their other one with which they have their other biological kid.
But, basically, unlike in the original myth where the princess Coronis is unfaithful to Apollo - and thus dies.
Robin basically can’t handle the kid because he gets too smart for her too fast, and he absconds from her one day and ends up - in a similar fate to the story of the actual Asclepius - being raised by a centaur and learning healing.
He falls in love with Caliban the Courageous- possibly a werewolf like Red? - and in an effort to fix the bite ends up calling down the Sun Drop flower into existence.
In doing this, a balance has to be struck.
But, not before he’s killed.
Once again, like the myth, Apollo gets him raised up and he’s made the god of Healing.
But, Zeus makes him come back to Corinthia because neither of them should have been meddling in the affairs of the Sorcerers, Royals, and common folk outside of their country anyway.
Yet, still having to clean up their mess, the two of them assist in creating the Brotherhood in the Dark Kingdom to protect the Moonstone - comprised of the King of that country, and Caliban and Asclepius’ three adopted children- Adira (oldest), Qurin (middle), and Hector (the feral youngest).
Cass was given some divine guidance in how to assist the team in missions during their adventures.
Therefore, in betraying the Brotherhood, Cass does, inadvertently, kind of, betray Apollo because, in this version of the outline/ current draft, what I’ve set in motion, is that Cass leaves Corona in her exile for Corinthia and ends up getting adopted as a pseudo Auntie in Winifred’s bloodline on her father’s side.
I’ll likely end up making minor tweaks to all of the Lore-TM stuff as I continue to draft. But, as of right now, this is how I’m knitting the two sides of the stories together.
But, this means that, through double adoption, at least, Goodwyn, Cordelia, Cedric, and Calista are all related to gods.
(Hence the OP-ness that they can present at random points and the random crap I may allow them to just … survive … when they probably shouldn’t be able to.)
Additionally, Apollo was Winifred’s patron in my outlines - her title of “wise” coming from her prophetic nature.
(Apollo lowkey got them together.)
But, due to some unforeseen circumstances surrounding laws and such, Goodwyn whiffed and, in helping society do something f-ed up in the name of propriety towards his own kids, children being under the protection of Apollo, ends up cursing himself and his own lineage. Though, to be fair, Winifred spends most of my writing blaming herself for the curse because she forgoes the study of prophecy in school and becomes self-taught instead- in no small part due to Goodwyn’s influence.
So, there are lots of things moving to set up some of the reasons for Winifred and Goodwyn to fall in love in that family tree as well as the tensions between them. LOL!
(Also, like I said, I’m sick. My dog is sick. If I made a typo - I’m sorry. I’m doing my best to keep my stories and names straight, but I’m probably going to screw something up. It’s been a day.)
More Lore Crap
Somewhere about two generations after Windslow the Wandmaker (who made the Family Wand), it started to spread that, instead of being King Eugene’s country of origin/ the birthplace of the Dark Kingdom, Prydain was what happened when “sorcerers didn’t have Royals to govern them” when that happened they “got out of hand.” (Again, this despite the truth that Eugene’s history can be traced back there.)
Hans of Frozen was not actually evil. (This being the place I have decided to make the home for an AU I’ve been writing for 5 years that is based on the musical adaptation.) Instead, he was a trans political refugee from the Southern Isles who, very awkwardly, tried to woo Princess Anna in an effort to flee his country of origin, failed at it, was nearly fatally wounded by Weselton’s guards trying to save Elsa, couldn’t save Anna because he was nearly bleeding to death, and later became the founder of Freezenburg after Arendelle needed to divide their population in two after the flood that sank their city. Ever the survivalist, he took the heartiest civilians and founded that territory in the barren tundra in the name of Arendelle.
Han’s story was later changed around the time of King Gideon II when “purity laws” were adopted and trans heroes were to be made villains. In order to even be allowed to tell the story to her children, Grandmum had to tell the censored version, in which, Hans was a villain.
This Hans is one of Hildegard’s however many great grandfather’s. But, part of the reason she feels the need to be perfect is because she can’t let anyone know who she’s related to - no matter what good he did. She fears that becoming her legacy. So, she’ll just fit in perfectly instead.
Like Cedric’s mother, Clio has, unknown to most, been “god touched.” She has been chosen as a favorite of Dionysus - god of theater - which grants her a few bits of magic related to theatrics. It was a bit of a shock to everyone considering Clio had no control over said god-like powers and abilities after having never preformed in a show before being eleven-ish. Cedric tells her about his mother, cleans up several messes, and earns his place as Miss Elodie’s “assistant and magical mess cleaner” from “now until the rest of eternity” if he wants the job.
Easter Eggs
* Though not a Disney movie, per se, when I knew I wanted to work in the Robert de Boron adaptation of King Arthur and Sword in the Stone as my foundation for the land of Brazendell (sp?), I knew I could also work in a blink and you miss it reference to Quest for Camelot. (Technically an old Warner Brother’s film.)
Thus, Winifred on her mother’s side is related to the couple, Garett and Kayley, from Quest for Camelot.
* Roland is related to four different sets of Disney Royalty -
Elsa, Queen Anna of Arendelle and Kristoff- through Grandmum.
Prince Eric & Ariel (whose name I varied to be *slightly* more Norse in spelling given his lineage - now spelled “Erik” - for the purpose of this story - and before you ask … yes I will give an in universe reason for the change.) - also through Grandmum
Elonwyn and Terran - Through Roland I
Eugene and Rapunzel- Through Roland I
Also, yes, this does mean that, somewhere, 12+ generations removed Cedric and Cordelia and Roland and Tilly are some sort of cousins.
Final Thoughts
I think these are the most major highlights? Other than I began to realize how many Shakespearean names are in Sofia the First as I was building the family tree and running through the plays.
In As You Like It, Roland is the name of the duke who is the father of Rosaline, who disguises herself as Ganymede to protect herself from … I think it was his older brother who was the evil one. Rosaline angers her uncle so he basically threatens to banish and kill her, but her cousin, the evil uncle’s daughter, hates that. So, she decides to woo their court fool and take him with them while Rosaline disguises herself as Ganymede in an effort to further protect them. In the end, she married Orlando and they return home happily ever after. (A lot of other crap happens when they get lost in the forest - but for the purpose of this retelling that doesn’t matter.)
In The Tempest, Miranda is the daughter of Prospero who is endlessly curious about civilian life after spending her entire life trapped on an island with a bunch of spirits who are forced by magic to do her father’s bidding. She falls in love with a sailor, a prince, who gets shipwrecked on the island.
In King Lear, Cordelia is the only honest daughter of Lear’s three daughters. The other two fall down and flatter him. However, upon banishing Cordelia, the other two sisters basically take their aging father and treat him like an idiot causing him to wander the fields of his own kingdom homeless and insane. Cordelia eventually comes home to help him. But, her sisters order her to be killed and Lear dies of a broken heart.
Not a play, but historically, King James I was Shakespeare’s patron after Queen Elizabeth I. He sponsored such works as Macbeth and The Tempest (Shakespeare’s final work.)
Those are the ones I can remember both the summary of the play and the name off hand.
So, yeah, I just was looking at a little of As You Like It yesterday and then remembered that Rosaline s dad was Duke Roland, and I was like … there’s MORE!?!?
So, for funzies, I put a “Duke Roland” specifically in Roland’s lineage to honor what I can only wonder was Roland’s name sake?
Cheers,
Pip
💀👿
Inspired by Serena Valentino’s Villains novel series.
The five-volume Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander, began in 1964 with The Book of Three, and saw new entries — The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer — appear annually until finishing with The High King in 1968. They’re set in a fantasy version of Wales, and draw from Welsh mythology, but the story is very much the tale of an assistant pig-keeper named Taran who, as he grows from boy to man, seeks adventure, finds responsibility and learns the terrible cost of glory. It’s one of the first works of fantasy I read as a kid and honestly, I don’t think any others, except Earthsea, have measured up in terms of emotional weight (and their refusal to indulge in power fantasy or other cliché). I re-read them recently and that remains true. You ought to read them if you haven’t. They’ll change you, I bet.
Anyway. My editions as a kid were the ‘80s Dell Yearlings with the gorgeous cover art by Jean-Leon Huens. I have a deep love for the first cover and its depiction of the Horned King (and am eternally jealous that Tony DiTerlizzi owns the original). The others are pretty great, too. I love that the giant cat is basically a house cat and I love those alien-looking Cauldronborn on the final book’s cover. The Black Cauldron cover is rather new for me; my original had the movie poster for the god awful Disney movie (beautiful, yes, but still awful and utterly lacking the emotional heart of the books). I’m pleased Huens shows Eilonwy, but now I am a little bummed he never painted the bard, Fflewddur Fflam.
Disney Cottages
June 30 - Horned King from The Black Cauldron (Disney)
So here’s some drawings and info about my Twisted Wonderland OC Brenin, based on the Horned King from The Black Cauldron.
In short: he’s an ancient fae who went against the Draconias, got his ass kicked, became a Lich, got banished via curse, spent a humbling amount of time in the forests of the Shaftlands—then centuries later, Malleus’ Grandmother offered to lift the curse in exchange for keeping an eye on her grandson at NRC (…though the full details and intricacies of the lifting of this particular curse are up for interpretation, thus there are always dozens of loopholes to take advantage of for future situations).
And now he’s the NRC librarian.
Btw the lower right for the first collage is him Overblotting, and, based on my super basic skills, all the latter sketches are the basic architecture of his abode.
So yknow. All first drafts. :^)